Squamish

I've been thinking for weeks about a clever title for my blog entry about my Squamish experience, but finally gave up. That's my excuse for why I'm so late in writing this. :-)

So, after a pleasant visit and lovely dinner (corn chowder and salmon. Yum!) with Tom and Sarah in Seattle, I headed north to Squamish, BC. Once again, I managed to cross the border without incident. This made me 3 for 7 in the last year (2 for 4 entering Canada...). I met up with Tom, who I had contacted through Mountain Project. Tom claimed I was the spitting image of Jeep Gaskin, who he used to climb with back in the day. I think it's just the beard and crazy hair. :)

On Tuesday, 8/18, Tom and I climbed at the Smoke Bluffs, a nice, mostly single pitch, crag north of The Chief (home of most of the long, multi-pitch climbs in the area). We climbed well together, and got several fun climbs in. Regrettably, all of the pictures I took during the first 2/3 of my time at Squamish were eaten by a corrupt SD card. I have not completely given up on recovering them, but I'm pretty sure they are toast. I do have a handful of pics from my second day out that Tom took and sent to me.

So, the following day, we climbed at the base of the Grand Wall, on The Chief. We did a really incredible, 2 pitch finger crack, called Exasperator, there, then did the first pitch of Rutabaga, a really tricky, technical 5.10b. Finally, we headed back to the Smoke Bluffs and climbed Supervalue, 5.10c. Man, is that a climb that keeps coming at you. It starts off with a spooky, undercling slab, pulling around a corner, then throws some tricky face climbing at you, and finishes up on a great hand crack...with some tricky moves at the top, just in case you thought it was over....

Finally getting a rest at the top of the second pitch of Exasperator

On the third day, we got a slow start, and never really picked up. Tom had to leave reasonably early to drive back to Washington, so we headed back to the Smoke Bluffs, this time heading for the Penny Lane area. We ended up doing just one climb, a 5.11a called Climb and Punishment. It was something Tom had been wanting to get back on. He struggled a little, but made it up. After struggling to even get off the ground, I, eventually, flailed my way up it on top rope. There was a really nice looking 8 nearby, but after the previous climb, I was too gassed to want to try it. So, Tom headed for home, and I went to do some shopping and find a new campsite (I spent the first few nights at a commercial campground that Tom wanted to stay at, but which was a bit pricey to stay at alone). I found a site (the last one available at the Chief campground), which I ended up sharing with a Brazilian guy named Philip, who was riding his motorcycle from California to Alaska. It was the same price for 2 people as for one, so I was happy to share.

The next day, I drove into Vancouver. I went shopping for a new pack, as my Osprey that I use for a crag pack had blown a zipper, then went to meet up with a very very good, old friend, Jeff. Jeff works at EA, so I met him at work and he took me for a tour of the campus. I have to say, from what I saw, they have it pretty good there. He seems to enjoy it. After the tour, we went back to his place, had dinner, hung out with his family, played Carcasonne, and generally had a pleasant evening. Jeff is one of those people I always enjoy spending time with. It was great to get a chance to catch up. I hope it's not 8 years (or whatever it was) before we see each other again!

The next morning, I got up early and drove back to Squamish. I got there in time to say goodbye to Philip, who was heading out to continue his journey to Alaska, and managed to hook up with Andrew and Gabe, from the campsite next to mine, to climb for the day. Once again, we headed to the Smoke Bluffs. By this time, I was really aching to get on one of the longer routes on the Chief, but it just hadn't worked out yet. In the meantime, I was happy to be climbing.

We started out at Crag X, near Supervalue. Gabe is a 15 year old kid. He's a strong sport climber (can probably onsight most 11's, and works 12's, and even some 13's), but has virtually no trad experience. Despite this, he was very gung-ho, thinking he should be able to waltz up 5.10 trad routes...after all, it's only 5.10. The crag was pretty busy when we got there, so, for our first climb, we chose one that was open...a 5.9 trad route. It was mostly easy, with a short, overhanging diheral, crux. I led it, taking one short fall at the crux. I lowered off and we pulled the rope, so that Gabe could pink-point it. He got completely stymied at the crux and lowered off. Andrew finished the route and cleaned it. I've got nothing against Gabe. He's a strong climber and a good kid. It just goes to show that not all climbs are created equal.

From there, we walked down to look at Zombie Roof, a 5.13a roof crack. Again, Gabe thinks that because he's climbed a 13a somewhere, he should be able to get on this.... Uh, yeah, think again. So, we looked, instead, at a 5.11 mixed route with a gear protected start that leads to a cruxy, bolt protected, slab. Andrew led the start, amazingly stemming the entire thing, across a stem box that had to be at least 6 feet wide. It was quite a sight. Andrew bailed after the first bolt on the slab and Gabe finished the route. I tried it on top-rope, and couldn't get past the second move. Somewhere around the time we were finishing up on this, Yuji Hirayama showed up, with a small entourage. They warmed up on a 5.12 nearby, then Yuji on-sighted Zombie Roof. It was quite a spectacle, and I deeply regret that my photos of this are among the ones my SD card ate. After watching the show for a while, I decided to climb a 5.9 called Old Age. Really, I think the only thing that would make it 5.9 is avoiding grabbing onto a tree growing out of the middle of the crack at the start, which I failed to do, because I didn't have any gear in, hadn't brought a sling I could sling the tree with, and didn't want to chance a ground fall. Regardless, it was a fun climb with some unique moves pulling out of a chimney toward the top. Some time after this, we watched Yuji red-point a 5.13b which he had tried to on-sight earlier, and then called it a day and headed back to camp.

On Sunday, Andrew and I did our own things while Gabe went climbing with Jesse, a friend that he and Andrew knew from Edmonton, and who we had randomly run into the previous day. I hiked to the top of the Chief, and took some great pictures which no one will ever see thanks to my faulty SD card. Blah. All the same, I had a great hike.

Monday, Andrew, Gabe, Jesse and I set out to do a multi-pitch climb. Finally! We set our eyes on Snake, a 5 pitch 5.9 on the Apron of the Chief. We would climb in two pairs of two, with Andrew leading and Gabe seconding, and me leading with Jesse seconding, since neither Gabe nor Jesse had trad leading experience. I pointed out Sunday night that we should get an early start. We didn't. I think we left camp around noon. Still, it's only a 5 pitch climb, right? When we arrived at the base, there were two parties of three ahead of us. One was on the proper first pitch and one was on the 5.easy approach pitch (climbing it roped). The first party was moving quickly, belaying both followers at the same time on double ropes. The second party...wasn't moving so quickly.

The first pitch was 5.7, but featured a fairly long section of unprotected climbing above a ledge, just below the anchor. It took quite a bit of psyching up, and a fair amount of time working out the moves for me to push through it. The second pitch was mostly easy traversing on large ledges, with a short 5.9 crux near the end. There were a couple of options, but the way I went took good (albeit small) gear. The third pitch had some challenging laybacking, and then, just below the anchor, a freaking hard move, above a ledge, with no gear that would keep you from decking. Kudos to Andrew for pulling it off. Gabe dropped me a sling and I aided through it. I swear it was a solid 5.10 move. Andrew reported that the fourth pitch was even thinner and scarier, and, by this point, light was failing. I brought Jesse up, then Gabe trailed our rope. They then dropped the first rope back down, Jesse climbed on our rope, and clipped the first rope into the directionals for me to climb on. I was happy not to be on lead for a really tricky traversing move, which I fell trying to pull. I led the final 5.7 pitch by head-lamp, and then the real adventure began: getting down. We estimate that we summited around 9:00PM. We didn't make it off the mountain until 2:30AM. Man, what a day! Despite it all, though, I had a fantastic time. Andrew and Jesse were a blast to climb with, and Gabe held up well in his first multi-pitch trad epic.

Andrew and Jesse waiting to start the climb

Andrew leading the first pitch

Gabe following the second pitch

View from the first pitch belay

Jesse following the crux of the second pitch, as Andrew says "Rock on!!!"

Looking up at the fourth pitch

Andrew celebrating at the top of the fourth pitch

Tuesday, Gabe, Andrew, and Jesse all headed out, and I decided to do so as well. After all, it would be hard to top that experience!

Route List for 8/18-28:

• Corner Crack (5.7 Trad) (Onsight)
• Flying Circus (5.10a Trad) (Top-Rope Clean)
• Neat And Cool (5.10a Trad) (Top-Rope Clean)
• S-M's Delight (5.10b Trad) (Top-Rope)
• Mosquito (5.8 Trad) (Red-point)
• Exasperator (2 pitches, 5.10d, Trad) (Top-Rope Clean)
• Rutabaga Pitch 1 (5.10b, Trad) (Top-Rope)
• Supervalue (5.10c, mixed) (Top-Rope Clean)
• Climb And Punishment (5.11a Trad) (Top-Rope Flail)
• Picket Line (5.9 Trad) (Led with one fall)
• Old Age (5.9? Trad) (Led, grabbed a tree)
• Snake (5 pitches, 5.9HARD, Trad) (onsight pitches 1, 2, 5; aided crux on pitch 3; top-roped pitch 4)